Monday, December 17, 2007

Says Ben Brinkman, the Producer of MLB 2k8: "Well, a lot of the stuff in the game gameplay mechanic wise, a lot of the stuff was kind of dated. It had been in the game for a number of years and fans buying the game year after year were getting a lot of the same experiences – last year, it looked a lot better, but we wanted to do something new and different and hopefully innovative and fun. We believe they are innovative and fun, but we want the people playing our game to feel the same way, as well as reviewers. We've done a lot of stuff this year – let's leave it at that. It's across the board, we did primarily focus on a couple of areas, but we also touched on everything. Like we talked about with fielding, it's a much different and more fluid and responsive experience. One thing that we're going to roll out later on: our pitching and batting duel – I'm having a blast playing the game. Both pitching and batting. We redid, like I said, the batting, but we redid the pitching as well, and it's a more organic experience. I'll just leave it at that."

Team Deathmatch• Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.Mercenary Team Deathmatch• Brand New Playlists: No Clans / Parties allowed.• Players who don't want to be matchmade with clans (or people in parties) can team up with fellow lone wolves and play some TDM.Free-for-All• Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.• Score Limit Change: 100 PointsDomination• Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.• Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.• Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now available in map rotation.Ground War• No changes.Sabatoge• Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.Headquarters• Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.• Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.• Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now available in map rotation.Search and Destroy• Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.Team Tactical• Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.• Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.• Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now available in map rotation.Hardcore Team Deathmatch• Brand New Playlist: 100% Hardcore Team Deathmatch Only• No longer switched between Hardcore Search and Destroy and Hardcore Team Deathmatch• Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.Hardcore Search and Destroy• Brand New Playlist: 100% Hardcore Search and Destroy Only• No longer switched between Hardcore Search and Destroy and Hardcore Team Deathmatch• Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.Old School• Rule Set Change: Free-for-All Only w/ Old School Rules• Increased Health (slightly)• No Health Re-gen• Score Limit Change: 100 points• Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.Cage Match• Rule Set Change: No Longer Old School Mode• 1 v 1: Normal Rules• Map Added to Rotation: Countdown - now available in map rotation• Map Added to Rotation: District - now available in map rotation Oldcore• Playlist RemovedTeam Objective• Playlist Removed• All gametypes included now available individually.Upcoming Patch Updates (Seperate from above Playlist changes):Addition of Host Migration• If Host of lobby leaves, all players will be deposited back to the lobby where next best host will be selected before new game restarts. Players will no longer be kicked out of game entirely.Improved Network Performance For Larger Games• 18 player games now require more bandwidth to host, resulting in smoother performance for players.Optimized Server Selection for First Match• Server selection is now optimized to select best bandwidth servers associated by LSP.Updated Spectator "Chase Cam"• Change Spectator Mode: Switch between First Person and Third Person.• 360 Degree rotation around character you're spectating.Fixed "Playlist Older Than Host" Error• Player will no longer get error when entering games.Optimized Corrupt Create-a-Class Handling• Players will no longer be kicked from game when their create-a-class data is corrupted.Added Kill Cam To Everything• Kill Cam view Added: Air Strike Bombs (Follows bomb from plane to target)• Kill Cam view Added: Grenades (Follows frag from hand to ground, then rotates to view target)• Kill Cam view Added: RPGs (Follows RPG from launch to target)• Kill Cam view Added: M203 Rounds (Follows round from launcher to target)• Kill Cam view Added: Claymores (Views from behind claymore until explosion)• Kill Cam view Added: C4 Packs (View from pack rotating to watch target)• Kill Cam view Added: Martrdom (View from grenade rotating to watch target)Optimized Old School Experience• Added Unlimited Sprint• Doubled Magazine Size• Added Ragdoll CamAdditional Start Spawn Locations in All Maps• Added a minimum of 9 extra start spawns on each side of all maps.Optimized Sniper Rifle / ACOG Scope Accuracy• Sniper Rifles and ACOG scope accuracy improved due to fix.Fixed Weapon Sprint Bug• Bug which gave players more sprint when using particular weapons.Thanks again for your constant feedback and support of the game, keep in mind that playlists are constantly evolving, so everything is subject to change based on feedback and results. If we feel something isn't fun or based on your feedback we'll continue to change it up and I'll continue to keep you in the loop.